Southland council staff monitored for speeding in work cars 856 times

Matthew Rosenberg, Local Democracy reporter

A Southland council is monitoring and releasing speed data on its staff, with a report showing hundreds of speed limit breaches.

The Environment Southland report showed 856 speeding events were logged for the period April to June, where drivers exceeded the limit by more than 10km/h.

For that same period, there were a total of 28 times where the speed limit was exceeded by more than 20km/h.

The Environment Southland report showed 856 speeding events were logged for the period April to June.

Environment Southland made the information public as part of a report that noted further analysis on driving behaviour had been requested by the risk and assurance committee.

“As requested by the health and safety committee, overspeed reports have been distributed to the divisional managers for their team speeding 15km/h or more,” the report read.

It noted there had been a “significant decrease” in speeding in the medium and high categories since managers began receiving those monthly reports.

All Environment Southland vehicles were fitted with an in-vehicle monitoring system including an audible alarm which went off when the speed limit was exceeded.

When this occurred, an “event” was created in the system.

In response to questions from Local Democracy Reporting, Environment Southland health, safety and risk manager Paul le Roux said the highest speed recorded between the April to June period was 126km/h.

The vehicle exceeded the 100km/h mark for an eight-second period which was consistent with an overtaking manoeuvre, he said.

During the same quarter, two drivers drove for 2.6km at speeds 20km/h over the speed limit.

“Where speeding is considered an issue, there is a conversation, in the first instance, with the driver regarding health and safety,” le Roux said.

Environment Southland staff travelled almost 190,000km in fleet vehicles between April and June.

Speeding was being discussed at all levels of the organisation and remained a focus at committee level, the council report said.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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